Another's Shoes-Nepal/Baltimore

Walking in another's shoes helps to broaden one's perspective.  Hold your judgement until you have made that journey. You never know how you may see the world differently...you may even look at your own life in a new way. And learn to love your neighbor. 

Speed Bumps of Grace

I know I'm not alone in this experience of starting off in one direction and find yourself heading in several different directions. It's not unusual especially in our fast-paced world. But I wonder have you ever been stopped short when the following has happened? I was WALKING  today and stumbled on a speed bump. I didn't fall. There was no injury. Just a tripping of sorts. I did the typical looking around to see if anyone saw me (no one did) and then I kept walking. 

But as I walked I got to thinking...that speed bump was a great reminder to slow down, watch where I was going certainty but more than that to look for others who might be harried or hurting...slow down because in my rush I might just miss the  grace that is there for me and the grace that is there for others...the grace that others have to offer me and the grace that I can share...slow down...for you will find grace even tripping over the speed bumps....

Peace! My God. #baltimore

Today, in light of unrest in Baltimore and injustice other places I share a hymn written by a Lutheran minister. Though the walk of some is threatening, stalking, and others is fleeing---the prayer is for God's mercy and peace to be brought/carried into the lives of all people. 

Author: Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr	(1995)

"This text was a response to several events: ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, revelations of child abuse, the general state of the world. For all such horrors, the only hope is the peace God offers. The tune name means 'Peace, my God.'"

1 Where armies scourge the countryside,
and people flee in fear,
where sirens scream through flaming nights,
and death is ever near:

Refrain
O God of mercy, hear our prayer:
bring peace to earth again!

2 Where anger festers in the heart,
and strikes with cruel hand;
where violence stalks the troubled streets, 
and terror haunts the land: 

O God of mercy, hear our prayer:
bring peace to earth again!

3 Where homes are torn by bitter strife,
and love dissolves in blame;
where walls you meant for shelt'ring care
hide deeds of hurt and shame: 

O God of mercy, hear our prayer:
bring peace to earth again!

Text: Herman G. Stuempfle Jr., b. 1923

Tripping into People of Grace

I first started this blog when I had the opportunity to travel to Scotland, Germany, Italy and Greece in 2010. I attended an international Summer School while in Scotland. There were students from all over the world representing many denominations and all WALKS of faith and life. 

Our instructors helped us to understand community. We did this through visits to a variety of faith communities, churches, working groups, and historical sites, as well as time spent together eating, talking, meditating and struggling with issues. 

I just found out this week that one of our instructors died. She was a woman of intelligence but more than this she was a woman of incredible GRACE. The following is part of the note we received from one of our other instructors. 

"When I visited a few weeks ago, I came away uplifted - her generous words about friends, her grace and thankfulness for life in general were very remarkable. 

She was as large hearted in the midst of her dying as she had always been, as you will remember."

What amazing words. What comforting words..she was a person of grace. .My prayer is that you may TRIP into someone like this more than once in your life...

Grace at breakfast.

Today's journey post comes by way of my daughter Lindsay. She took a walk from the church to the car and tripped into grace...

"Our church serves breakfast every Sunday to the members and the community around the church. Every Sunday I see a sweet lady that sits by herself. After breakfast I went out to my car to get something and I saw this lady sitting in her car. I went over to her to tell her hello and sorry that I had not spoken to her in breakfast. She asked if I came every Sunday and I said yes, my mom is the minister. She then replied with "I miss my daughter ever day. She died in 2004 and I never spent much time with her bc I had to work. Now that I don't work and have time, she's gone. Life happens whether you want it to or not."
In Sunday school we talked about the Holy Spirit picking you up and putting you exactly where you need to be. Well she felt like I needed to make a new friend named Sally this morning. #thanksbetogod #happysunday"

Adventures

Today's journey was a long bike ride for me. Thank you. Thank you to those who support by riding along with those of us who are slower. Thank you to those who support by providing rest stops. Thank you to those who provide SAG. And to those who cheer. And any I may have left out.

The journey can be long or short. Sometimes you see someone famous but often it's just ordinary folks walking (or riding) along side of you. But always it's an adventure. Enjoy it!!

The Hard Work of Justice and Mercy

Today I'm grateful to people who broaden my horizons with books and movies. I was planning to use today to walk 14-16 miles in preparation for my pilgrimage but the thunder and lightning changed my plans. Instead I caught up on a couple of movies which reminded me of different kinds of walks. 

I watched Iron-Jawed Angels about the struggle of women receiving the right to vote. The joy of a parade (a walk for justice) was violently interrupted by those who disagreed. 

How often our journeys are interrupted by disunity, unhappiness-our own or someone else's. How often our journeys are interrupted by misstep or a wrong turn (or even the weather?)

The second movie I watched was As We Forgive. It is about the genocide in Rwanda. More to the point it is about the reconciliation that has happened following the atrocities. It is a most powerful testimony. As I watched this movie I was moved to see another sort of walk that we as humans can take. It is a walk toward forgiveness. 

In the movie many of the perpetrators were released after  pleading guilty and showing remorse. But the story did not end there. The movie shows more--the movement toward reconciliation takes more than that; it involves more steps, a more complete journey. The perpetrators are shown walking to the villages and sitting across from victims, family members and survivors asking forgiveness, asking for mercy. The movie pointed out the need to receive forgiveness but also of the importance for the survivors to show mercy, forgiveness in order to live. It didn't and doesn't happen easily but is an active process and takes action and work. 

Reinhold Niebuhr wrote, "forgiveness is the final (or highest) form of love."

We take many walks in our lives...these two movies reminded me of two more...a parade of justice and a walk for mercy--both were hard work. 

Wholeness and Forgiveness

I keep reading and re-reading the information in John Brierley’s book A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino de Santiago.  And today I came across a note about Pilgrim Passport, Protocol, and Prayer.

            He reminds pilgrims to get a credencial (passport for the Camino) from your local confraternity---and join it. You can get a passport once you get to Spain but it’s really awesome to have it ahead of time.

            Brierley says to have consideration for your fellow pilgrims and gratitude for your hosts. This just seems like great advice as we move through our journeys of life. As we encounter the pilgrims and hosts alike that we meet each day—be considerate and grateful. You have no idea of their journey; no idea of their struggles; no idea of their story—take time to listen—have consideration and gratitude.

            And finally he says, may every step be a prayer for peace and an extension of loving-kindness. I wonder how different might our days be if every step was a prayer for peace and an extension of mercy? How different might this world be if every step was a prayer for wholeness and a prayer of forgiveness not just for oneself but also for others?

            These are my thoughts today as I going tripping into grace…

Earth Day Blessings

So today’s blog post is in honor of EARTH DAY and for my love of Celtic blessings. I have recently discovered that the Celts may have walked The Camino long before it became a pilgrimage for Christians. Here is a little bit of trivia or history--the Milky Way (Via Lactea) was used by both the Celts and the later pilgrims traveling to Santiago de Compostela. (Compostela means Field of Stars—thus “pilgrims” of all sorts used the Milky Way to guide them to Santiago de Compostela).

Here are some Celtic Blessings for Earth Day! Enjoy! And enjoy the blessings of this world!

If God sends you down a stony path,

may God give you strong shoes.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

May the clarity of light be yours,

May the fluency of the ocean be yours,

May the protections of the ancestors be yours.

May green be the grass you walk on,

May blue be the skies above you,

May pure be the joys that surround you,

May true be the hearts that love you.

shout out to http://rita-underthemilkyway.blogspot.com/2009/06/under-milky-way.html

for some amazing pictures especially some of the milky way (you'll have to go look at them)

shout out to Faith and Worship for the blessings!

http://www.faithandworship.com/Celtic_Blessings_and_Prayers.htm#ixzz3Y4VNhGSI

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Paths of Enquiry

John Brierley in his book, A Pilgrims Guide to the Camino de Santiago, writes: 
"Along every path of enquiry there comes a point that requires a leap of faith, when we have to abandon the security of out-dated dogma handed down to us over millennia. When we reach that point we have to let go of the safety of the familiar and dive into the unknown with nothing but our faith to support us." 

Many more of us need to find ourselves on "paths of enquiry" so that we can "dive into the unknown" with just our faith to support us...

I wonder....

Overcoming Fear

Overcoming Fear

Several years ago I wrote a children’s book. It sat for a long time dormant, after being kindly rejected by several publishers. They were interested but then it just wasn’t “its time”, they said. I am not a confident writer so I FEARED maybe it was my writing. But interestingly enough the story is about overcoming fears. My brother Stephen had originally drawn some delightfully pictures for the publication. We decided to try our hand at self-publishing. William, who was a freshman at the time took Stephen’s original illustrations and modified them. And with a little editing we published.

            I am one month away from leaving for a trip of a life-time as I prepare to walk the the Camino de Santiago. Many people have commented that they are excited for me BUT and then they share their fears for me about my trip. Not all of the fears are the same. I understand fear. Here is the Foreward to that children’s book I wrote:

Freida the Singing Frog is a story about overcoming fear. Sometimes we are challenged to overcome our fear by good things in our lives. At others times we are challenged to overcome our fear because we are faced with adversity or because bad things happen to us. The story of Freida reminds us that even in the face of overwhelming odds, our fear can help us to take a leap of faith. When we do, we will find strength beyond ourselves and others ready to cheer us on!

The strength beyond is incomparable. And my cheering section is unbelievable. Thank you for sharing with me on this journey!

I want MORE

Today at church we had communion by intinction--take a piece of bread and dip it into the cup. There were several young children in the congregation. After they had that small taste of bread they got back to their seats and said, "I want more!" One of the children got upset. The grandfather and mother tried to comfort him. I thought about giving him another chunk of bread but didn't want to upset those members of the congregation that might not "like" the protocol. So we finished worship, I pronounced the benediction and then picked up the bread plates and headed to the back of the sanctuary to greet people after worship. I stopped and told Henry's grandfather that the bread would be waiting for him. Henry found me after worship. I gave him a chunk of bread and his face lit up. I asked if he would like another piece. And he nodded yes. So I gave him a piece of bread for each hand. His face lit up even more! He scooted out of his mother's arms and came over to me with his face glowing and said, "thank you!"  His grandfather commented that maybe it wasn't appropriate for him to have spoke out and asked. But I told him that I was delighted and that I thought Jesus would be too. Jesus scolded those who would keep the children away from him. And perhaps we should all be asking for MORE!! More of what God has to offer. "I want more!"

"pilgrims together"--Giovanni

I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep.  There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.

Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in darkness, could we but see.  And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you.

Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me, that angel's hand is there. The gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Your joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it; that is all! But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country home.

Fra Giovanni Giocondo (c.1435–1515) was a Renaissance pioneer, accomplished as an architect, engineer, antiquary, archaeologist, classical scholar, and Franciscan friar.  This is a reassuring letter he wrote to Countess Allagia Aldobrandeschi on Christmas Eve, 1513.

In That List Somewhere

Today's post also from Jack Hitt's book, Off the Road: A Modern Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route Into Spain, "A twelfth-century document from the pilgrim's shelter in Roncesvalles declares: 'Its doors are open to all well and ill, not only to Catholics, but to pagans, jews and heretics, the idler and the vagabond and, to put it shortly, the good and the wicked' I believe I can find myself in that list somewhere."

I believe as I travel I can surely find myself on that list somewhere as well.

(Places of worship as well as those claim to be disciples would do well to take on this sentiment once again.)

SMILE

"Miracles were those occasions when circumstances conspired to shatter one's preconceptions. They were times of joyful surprise, moments of pleasure. The word miracle comes from the Latin mirari, which means to look upon in wonder. In its etymology lies the warmer meaning of this word. Mirari also came into English as "smile" (from the Book Off the Road: A Modern Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain by Jack Hitt) May you find an occasion today when circumstances conspire to share your preconceptions. May you find yourself or someone else SMILING as you journey today for we are all pilgrims and each day contains miracles.